


[discontinued] i need (g)love

by psharp10



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: (mild) Homophobia, Alternate Universe - Hockey, College Hockey, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-15 12:44:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8056879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psharp10/pseuds/psharp10
Summary: It is much more than just a game.





	[discontinued] i need (g)love

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [The_Game_Season_2016](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/The_Game_Season_2016) collection. 



> sergei's line remains #iconic to this date
> 
> bless [mara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snapdragonia) for helping me come up with and giving me most of the nicknames that i've used in this fic; also a huge thank you to [mon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soodio) for helping me brainstorm, listening to me whine and complain, and for giving me endless moral support ;;
> 
> **minho on lu's team is winner's minho, minho on junmyeon's team is shinee's minho

Junmyeon gasps, feeling teeth graze at his bared neck, and he tips his head back a bit further, letting it hit with a dull thud against the door. The door knob is digging into his back, but Luhan’s mouth is talented enough to distract Junmyeon from the pain. And anyhow, a little pain is always fun—Junmyeon wouldn’t have become a hockey player if he wasn’t okay with the pain.

Constant bruises and slight aches are a part of the game as much as all the skating and chasing the puck is. Junmyeon wouldn’t have it any other way either. He loves hockey for what it is, even if his body feels a bit sore on some days. It’s a good ache usually, it reminds him that he’s done something good, something worthwhile.

Luhan’s lips wrap around a bit of the skin on Junmyeon’s exposed neck, and then he sucks, his aim clear. Junmyeon feels his dick twitch in his pants and he tries to settle his mind so that he can push the sentences coherently out of his mouth.

“No marks,” says Junmyeon, even as he moans at the feeling of Luhan’s grin against his neck, the teeth barely tracing the sensitive, wet skin. “Luhan, _please_ -"

And no, that's most definitely not a whimper that falls from his lips. And that's not a following breathy chuckle from Luhan either.

"What, you don't like it?" Luhan hums, almost absentmindedly rubbing his lips against the skin now, no longer aiming to suck a hickey. A hand reaches down to brush against Junmyeon's very obvious erection tenting against his sweatpants. "Your dick says something else, Junmyeon-ah."

And oh, oh god, Luhan shouldn't sound so good when he says Junmyeon's name like that, shouldn't sound so hot, shouldn't make it so hard for Junmyeon to hold back his moan.

" _Ge_." Junmyeon lets the foreign syllable slip past his lips, a high keen following. "Please, no teasing, Lu-ge." Junmyeon makes sure to have the honorific in a lilting, slightly teasing voice.

He'll admit it openly. Sometimes he likes being a hypocrite, especially if it includes teasing Luhan.

Luhan's eyes narrow as he pulls back to look properly into Junmyeon's eyes. His hands are still resting on Junmyeon's waist, fingers playing around with the thin fabric of the younger's threadbare shirt.

"You're evil," Luhan whispers, and then leans in closer to kiss Junmyeon again. "Using _ge_ against me. I think I've let you know too much."

"Hmm," Junmyeon hums and smiles into the kiss, letting his tongue lick at the scar on Luhan's bottom lip and then licking into his mouth. Kissing Luhan is too much fun, Junmyeon loves the way that they play around, nipping at each other's lips, giggling at the accidental bumping noses that turn into eskimo kisses halfway through. "Have you, hyung?"

"Asshole," replies Luhan, taking his revenge by biting down on Junmyeon's bottom lip, pulling at it. He lets out a small noise of contentment when he feels Junmyeon shudder against him, a long, drawn out moan falling from the younger's lips. "You only call me 'hyung' when you need something."

"And," Junmyeon is the one to pull back now, raising his eyebrows, "isn't it obvious?" His hands reach over to firmly cup Luhan's ass. "What I want?”

Luhan lets out a low, breathy laugh at that and rolls his hips up into Junmyeon's, revelling in the way Junmyeon melts against him and grinds back. It’s an almost too familiar routine after that as Luhan’s hands come behind Junmyeon to hold on to his ass, support him as the younger’s legs wrap around his waist.

“We have practice in half an hour,” Junmyeon reminds Luhan, but doesn’t stop pressing kisses over Luhan’s collarbones.

Luhan drops a chaste kiss on Junmyeon’s mouth before setting the younger down on the dorm bed that’s too small for two people. “I know.”

Junmyeon grins, making himself comfortable on the mattress, and enjoys his show. Luhan’s doing this on purpose - removing his shirt slowly, undoing the zipper of his jeans as if he’s in a slow motion film. But Junmyeon’s not one to complain, even if they’re running a bit low on time.

Soon enough though, Luhan’s hands reach over to push at Junmyeon’s sweats. The pants and boxers join Luhan’s discarded ones next to the bed as he climbs on top of Junmyeon and captures the younger’s lips in another kiss.

"Hyung," Junmyeon whimpers, and their cocks drag against each other, the slide a bit too rough.

Luhan reaches over to the bedside table, his hand knocking down the alarm clock as he fumbles around to get the bottle of lube. Once he grabs it, he clicks the lid open and pours some generously out over his fingers, coating them completely. The bottle's not closed properly but Luhan can't bring himself to care enough and he lets it drop on the floor. Instead, he focuses more on wrapping his hand around both of their dicks, letting the lube smear over the hot hot skin.

Junmyeon gasps into his ears, arching up into the touch. The slide is better now, it's smoother and Luhan's fingers flutter along the vein. He rubs his palm over both of their heads and Junmyeon moans while Luhan's bites down on his lip to suppress his own moan.

"Are you close?" Luhan whispers, his voice wavering as he rolls his hips down again. His arms are shaking even as he digs his elbows into the mattress in an effort to keep himself stable. "Junmyeonnie~"

And it's so not fair that Luhan still gets to tease, so Junmyeon curls his nails down, biting into Luhan's biceps. Luhan lets out a small, breathless laugh at the retaliatory action and then dips in to graze his teeth over Junmyeon's earlobe.

"Ah, fuck," Junmyeon groans, pushing his head back onto the pillow and his neck muscles strain —and he's so so gorgeous, Luhan thinks. "Fuck, fuck, fuck-"

A litany of curses spill from Junmyeon's lips as his come spurts over their chests and his hips continue to jerk up in minute movements. Luhan grins, about to make a sharp, snarky remark, but then Junmyeon's hands are on his ass cheeks, fingers trailing dangerously close to his asshole. When he feels Junmyeon's thumb press down on the rim, he comes with a shout, shaking as his arms finally give out and he flops on top of Junmyeon, completely spent.

They have about ten minutes to get to practice and Luhan's come added to the sticky mess in between their chests. Junmyeon groans and pushes at Luhan, making him roll over so that Junmyeon can get off of the bed.

"Ten minutes, Luhan," he mutters and stands up, cursing when he steps on the bottle of lube - which, amazingly enough, didn't open up and spill all over the floor.

"I know," is the only reply Junmyeon gets. Luhan smushes his face into the pillow in hopes of perhaps falling asleep and missing the practice. But Junmyeon wraps his hand around Luhan's arm and tugs him up.

"Come on hyung," and Junmyeon's voice is too cheery, too energetic - how is he still so energetic and _awake_ , "it's pond practice today, and I'm not gonna miss it out, nor am I gonna let you miss out on this."

Luhan sighs at Junmyeon's insistence but doesn't stop his lips from quirking up into a smile, doesn't resist getting pulled up by the younger and following him into the shared bathroom for a quick shower before they have to hurry along for the practice.

 

x

 

"Xingle!" Luhan drapes his arm over Yixing's shoulder, grinning widely as the younger slightly stumbles before regaining balance.

"Xiao Lu~" And then the teasing is back, Yixing's dimple making its appearance as Luhan's nose scrunches at the nickname.

"Why can't you just call me Hansy, Xingle," Luhan whines, bumping his head with Yixing's as they turn around the corner, down the grassy path and off of the wooden walkway, to reach the frozen pond.

"Because," Yixing reasons as he runs his gloved fingers over the tape on his stick, making sure that the thickness is perfect, "I know that you prefer 'Xiao Lu' so much more."

With that, Yixing steps onto the pond and pushes off, skating away laughing while Luhan fumbles to catch up, shouting after him.

Practice is tiring, but during the camp, it's always a bit easier. Playing on the pond adds that extra element of hockey becoming more fun too. And more than anything, Coach Joo doesn't make them do suicides, and that, frankly, all players are thankful for.

"Your last shot was a bit sloppy," Junmyeon comments, sliding to a stop next to Luhan after finishing his own shooting. "You could've made it in with top corner if you hadn't hesitated."

Luhan snorts. "Yeonner is lucky that the crossbar saved him. Otherwise it would've definitely gone in."

"Luhan." And Junmyeon's tone sounds too chiding. Luhan doesn't like it.

"Okay, okay. I admit it. I'm just feeling a bit tired," Luhan confesses, tapping his stick against the ice.

"Too much fucking?" Yixing asks, popping up behind Junmyeon after he finishes his turn, his cheeks flushed a soft pink from the exertion and the cool breeze.

" _Yixing_ ," Junmyeon half whisper shouts, bringing up his hands to pat at his burning cheeks - which really doesn't work well when he's wearing his hockey gloves, has his stick in one hand and his helmet with the visor on his head.

He does look cute though, Luhan will give him that. He smiles at Junmyeon and then looks away, back at Yixing. And there's a knowing, teasing grin on Yixing's face which Luhan really doesn't like.

"None of your business, Xingle," Luhan replies, although a bit too late looking at the way Yixing's already cooing at Junmyeon in efforts to make the latter blush more. And that, _that_ Luhan does enjoy, so he lets Yixing's comment slip past.

"Come on boys! Let's finish up these drills so we can have a quick 5-on-5 game," Coach Joo calls out, putting an end to their conversation as Luhan skates off to do his next shot and finish the shooting drill.

He skates to center ice and taps one of the pucks from the pile, pulling it away with his stick. Lingering at the center, he takes in a deep breath, and then out, before he goes. This time he doesn't hesitate, shooting the puck as soon as he's within range. Luhan bends one knee, his foot slightly lifting off as the stick hits the puck and the small, black rubber disc goes flying.

Top shelf. Luhan pumps his arm up in the air, letting out a small hoot and sending a greasy smile towards Junmyeon. The younger responds with an exaggerated eye roll, but he's smiling anyway, so Luhan considers it a double win.

Junmyeon makes it in too, just like his last shot. He goes for the five hole and Luhan gives his butt a quick pat when Junmyeon skates by.

Once the drill is finished, they're split into new teams. A friendly game, Coach Joo says, so he puts Luhan and Junmyeon together on one team.

"Taecyeon, Junho, Luhan, Junmyeon, Jaehyun and Seunghyun - put on the blue arm bands," Coach Joo says, pointing towards the materials lying off on the side. "Chansung, Yixing, Sanghyuk, Hakyeon, Minjun, and Jaebum - you guys can remain white."

The game is fairly short run, only about half an hour long. The goal count isn't high, they're focusing more on defensive drills anyway - the shooting practice had been the break in between. Junmyeon manages to sneak in a goal though, when Chansung's attention is diverted by Luhan skating up on his right, only to drop pass the puck over to Junmyeon. The puck goes in through the bottom corner opening, where Chansung's reflexes aren't fast enough to even block it with his skate's blade.

There aren't any boards, out in the open pond, so the celebration remains small with the members just patting Junmyeon on the shoulder, or his leg with their sticks.

In the ending five minutes, Yixing intercepts a pass between Jaehyun and Junmyeon and rushes, skating forward and guarding the puck until Minjun's free, and then he passes. With Jaebum skating alongside on the left, Minjun tries to reach close enough to the next so that he can attempt a good shot.

"Wheel! _Wheel!_ " Coach Joo yells from the sidelines as Junho and Seunghyun rush to cover up and block Minjun.

But they're not fast enough as Minjun reaches the attacking zone first and takes a wrist shot. Taecyeon holds his fort though, and deflects the shot easily with his leg pad.

"Good save Yeonner!" Junmyeon says, skating past Taecyeon and patting him on the head.

Coach Joo stops the game and makes them do another face-off, saying that it's good practice, even though Taecyeon didn't freeze the puck. It's in the blue team's zone and Junmyeon decides to take it, going against Hakyeon.

Junmyeon looks down at the puck, then at Coach Joo - who acts as the referee for the game - and then straight at Hakyeon. He grins when Hakyeon smirks and winks at him, ready to wink back, but then Coach Joo blows the whistle. Junmyeon does his best and gets the puck, blindly passing it to Luhan, who picks it up easily and charges towards the white team's zone.

The game ends as a 2-1 win for the blue team with both Junmyeon and Seunghyun managing to snag a goal each. The timer runs out with Luhan and Jaehyun doing their best with cycling and trying to tire out the defenders from the white team for long enough.

Coach Joo pats them all at the end, giving small compliments accompanied with a big smile.

"There's a dinner tonight and I'd like all of you to come," Coach Joo brings it up as they all slowly head back to the small cabins that act as dorms for the camp. "It's our last few days here and I'm glad that I got to help you all out, so I'll be paying for the drinks and food tonight - don't miss it!"

The group's too tired to string together coherent sentences so the response is a mix of hoots and shouts, with a few fist pumps from Luhan and Taecyeon.

"There's no dress code, but make sure to shower and clean yourselves up well!" He reminds all the players once they reach the row of cabins. "Dinner's at eight."

"Got it, Coach!" Junmyeon shouts back, smiling as he pushes Luhan into the cabin.

"Wanna shower together?" Luhan asks, shaking the hair out of his eyes as he starts to remove all his hockey gear.

Junmyeon raises an eyebrow, putting away his own sticks on the built in racks on the walls.

"To save time, of course," Luhan tacks on with a wide grin and a wink.

Junmyeon stifles his laughter as he replies, "I think we would be wasting more time than saving any, but sure."

They arrive only ten minutes late to the dinner but Junmyeon still grumbles and gives a dirty look to Luhan as they enter. He quietly takes a seat next to Yixing—an end seat, so Luhan has to walk around to sit on the other side of Yixing—and whispers his apologies to Coach Joo as the dinner begins.

Halfway through the dinner, with each of them having gone through at least one beer bottle, Coach Joo makes his emotional speech about what good players they were and how much he enjoyed coaching them and that he has high hopes for a lot of the players (eyeing Junmyeon and Luhan specifically). The boys cheer at the end, throwing compliments around and teasing him until he laughs, going around and ruffling the boys' hair and giving them a pat on the back.

"You're all good boys," he says at the end of the dinner. "And I'm really very proud of you all. I hope you all have a great year ahead."

 

x

 

"Xingle! Junmyeon-ah! Over here," Minseok calls out to the two guys carrying bright duffel bags with the university's hockey team's logo on it.

"Socks!" Yixing's ears perk up and eyes brighten when he notices the other alternate captain waiting for them outside the practice rink building.

“Hyung, how’ve you been?” Junmyeon asks, leaning into Minseok’s one arm hug. “How was your vacation?”

“Really good, actually, I took some time off and went to Jeju-do,” Minseok replies as they walk into the arena.

“Oh, I’ve always wanted to go there,” says Yixing, sitting down at his stall in the locker room. He unzips his bag and begins to unpack his equipment, Junmyeon following suit.

“Hmm, maybe after this year then?” Minseok quirks an eyebrow up, smiling at Yixing before he goes back to changing into his base layer. “It’d be nice, we could all go together maybe.”

“The whole team? That’d be a too much, hyung,” Junmyeon says, looking up from his seat and smiling at Minseok. He pulls on his base layer pants, one leg at a time and pulling the material up patiently.

“Junmyeon-ah, please,” Minseok replies, deadpan. He has his shin guards, jock and shoulder and elbow pads put on by now, only leaving the main uniform.

“Yeah, Captain Suhot~” Yixing lilts his voice, his eyes scrunching up in half moons as he teases their captain with the nickname that he knows Junmyeon doesn’t particularly like but is stuck with anyway.

“Do you really have to use that nickname? Why can’t I have a different one?” Junmyeon whines and pulls on his hockey pants, tying the strings in neat loops.

“Come on Junmyeon-ah, you just have to deal with it for this year,” Minseok says and his eyes twinkle, which Junmyeon has come to associate with knowing that there’s a lot more teasing coming up ahead.

Junmyeon narrows his eyes but doesn’t reply verbally and instead lets out a little mix of a whine and groan.

“Where are the rest at? Already on the ice?” Junmyeon asks after he’s put on his skates and picks up his mouthguard, helmet and gloves.

They begin to walk down the hallway to get their sticks and the tape, shuffling past the newly painted walls - a bright, spotless white background with their university’s mascot and symbol, tiger, painted in their university color, crimson red.

“Yeah, the first years came in earlier, even before Coach Kim. So I let some of the other players who had arrived to go on the ice with the freshies and warm up, just skate around and shoot some pucks,” Minseok replies, picking up one of his sticks. He sets down his gloves on the side table and picks up a roll of tape. The stick’s blade has already been covered, it’s mostly the top part that Minseok has to do.

He likes the knob on the top of stick to be a bit thicker, for a better grip. His stick is stiffer than Junmyeon’s although it’s a bit more flexible than Yixing’s as Minseok sometimes plays more as an offensive defenseman.

Junmyeon tests the flex of his stick and hums in response to Minseok’s comments. “Did we get enough to replace all the graduating players?”

“Yeah, I think they’re a good batch this year,” Minseok says. He pats the stick, both the handle and the blade, once he’s done and keeps the tape back, waiting for Yixing and Junmyeon to finish up.

Once they’re all done, they go out into the rink. Their logo on the center has had been repainted, the Goryeo tiger roaring in its bright colors.

Junmyeon takes a quick gulp of water from his gatorade bottle, fixes his helmet, puts on his gloves and picks up his stick. With a deep breath in, and out, he opens the door. When he steps onto the ice, Junmyeon feels like he’s finally back where he’s supposed to be. A home, of sorts.

He skates a lap around the rink with Yixing, observing his teammates - old and new alike - on the ice, shooting the pucks or just practicing handling the puck. The new players are quite skilled, Junmyeon will concede that, but he hasn’t seen them play yet.

Both he and Yixing had gotten caught up at the camp so they had arrived a week late back to university and so had missed out on the first week of practice. Coach Kim was understanding though, and Yixing and Junmyeon weren’t alternate captain and captain, respectively, for no reason. Also, Coach Kim had known that they were at a hockey camp, so he was okay with them missing a week of practice if they were still practicing elsewhere.

There were still three weeks to go before the season started, enough time for preparations and extra practices.

When Junmyeon finishes his skate, he calls everyone around, near the benches. The first years, especially, are quick on their feet, rushing to get to the benches at their captain’s command. _Cute_ , Junmyeon thinks to himself, a small smile curling up at the corners of his lips.

“Hey guys, I’m Junmyeon, captain for this team - Aman Tigers - as most of you already know. I wanna apologize for being a week late. Both Xingle - that’s Yixing, one of your alternate captains - and I got held up at a hockey camp that we were attending. But we’re here now and I’m looking forward to playing with you all,” Junmyeon introduces himself, smiling warmly at everyone.

Yixing nods next to him and continues when Junmyeon finishes talking. “Feel free to call me Xingle! No need for honorifics. And ah, remember, it’s not Captain Junmyeon, it’s Captain Suhot~”

Junmyeon covers his face with his gloved hand and groans while Yixing laughs next to him. Most of the others join in too, Jongdae’s the loudest - as expected of the person who came up with the nickname in the first place (it had been a disastrous party and everyone had been drunk).

“Feel free to call me _hyung_ ,” Junmyeon corrects, pulling his hand away from his face. Most of the newbies look a bit bewildered, and the rest smile awkwardly, unsure of whether to laugh or not. “And loosen up guys! We’re not too serious here, unless the time calls for it.”

“Exactly,” Minseok picks up. He has an arm draped around Jongdae’s shoulders as he speaks to the group. “And really, you’ve all met Coach Kim, you know that the team’s pretty chill. Feel free to come to any of us for any help, yeah? The only one who really bites is Jongdae, here~” Minseok pats Jongdae’s shoulder as he teases him and Jongdae follows it up with his signature whining.

The first years look a bit less tense now, Junmyeon notices, and he thanks Minseok silently in his head.

“Also, looks like Coach Kim’s a bit late today, so let’s just go through some forward and backward skating warm up,” Junmyeon says.

“He’s probably just slept in late, or maybe he forgot it altogether, hah,” Kibum says, snorting and skating ahead, following Junmyeon to get into position.

A few of the members snicker at the comment but then quiet down when Junmyeon begins telling them about the formation and the directors for skating. They’ll be using the whole rink, so they’ll go with zigzag patterns following the blue lines and switch between backward and forward skating when they reach each turning point.

They’ve moved on to the four corner drills, so that both Minho and Hanbin can get a chance to be in the net and practice some saves, when Coach Kim stumbles in, rubbing his eyes and only about half awake. Thankfully, his skate laces are tied together well so he doesn’t trip when he steps onto the ice, but he still carries his aluminium coffee mug and sips from it.

Junmyeon calls for a pause on the practice and they all skate over to where Coach Kim is standing, leaning against the bench door.

“You made it, Coach,” Junmyeon says, grinning.

“Ah, Junmyeonnie,” Coach Kim blinks the sleep out of his eyes and smiles at the captain, “you’re back, I see. And Xingle’s here too?”

“Yup!” Yixing says, coming up behind Junmyeon and resting his chin on Junmyeon’s shoulder. “How’ve you been Coach?”

“Did you forget about the practice today Coach?” Minho asks, grinning widely with his goalie mask pushed up. It has custom decoration too - a tiger in black, red, and white, with its teeth bared around the cage. It’s as if Minho’s face is hidden inside the tiger’s mouth when he has the mask pulled down. There are also little orange flames surrounding the corners, a mix of flames and fur design. _Flaming charisma, hyung_ , Minho had told Junmyeon back when he had first gotten the decoration finished on his mask at the beginning of last year.

“Yeah, yeah I did,” Coach Kim admits, tipping his head slightly in apology. “It just completely slipped my mind. Sorry about that, boys, but it seems like our Captain Suhot, Socks and Xingle have managed the practice well enough without me?”

Junmyeon narrows his eyes at the nickname but Coach Kim just grins innocently back at him, patting him on the shoulder.

“They did. I think we don’t even need you anymore Coach,” Jongdae says, waggling his eyebrows. His stance lends even more to the humor in his voice, with his hip cocked, his helmet under one arm and his stick in the other hand.

“Ah, Daesy, are you in the mood for suicides this fine Saturday afternoon?” Coach Kim retorts, lifting an eyebrow up as he turns his head to look at where Jongdae’s standing and (good-naturedly) sniping from. There’s a burst of giggles and chuckling from the team, all of them enjoying the back and forth banter.

“ _Coach Kim_ ~ I was just kidding,” Jongdae replies, whining a bit and pouting a bit more.

“Uh huh,” says Coach Kim, taking a pause by sipping his coffee, “okay Daesy.” He then focuses his attention back on the whole team. “Anyhow, it looks like you guys were starting the four corners drill, right? So let’s continue with that then.”

The players nod and then move, skating back to their positions as Coach Kim blows the whistle and the drills begin.

 

x

 

“Lu _haaan_ ,” is the first thing that greets Luhan when he reaches Yonsei, back from his hockey camp. Baekhyun’s voice is loud and noisy and _loud_.

“Hansy!! My captain! You’re back!” Baekhyun drapes his arm over Luhan’s shoulders and Luhan can _hear_ the exclamation marks in Baekhyun’s voice.

“Hyunnie, how was your vacation? I think you grew some muscles here, eh?” Luhan pats at Baekhyun’s stomach, and it’s really much more firm now. Baekhyun looks leaner and a bit more buffed up since last year too.

He preens under the compliments and touches, replying with, “Of course I did Cap, this year is gonna be our year y’know.”

Luhan grins. “Yeah, it’s gonna be,” he says. In his head, there are flashes of the winter and of the heat in the hockey games, and a heat of a different kind too. _Gonna try my best for this year, Lu-ge_ , the voice in Luhan’s head reminds him, but he shushes it and focuses on walking down the route to their practice rink.

The year’s just begin, they have a long way to go and a lot of time to train. There’s a slight chill in the spring breeze as Luhan and Baekhyun make their way into the building, going straight to the locker room.

“Hansy!” Jonghyun greets him just as they enter the locker room. Luhan’s pulled into a half hug that he responds to equally eagerly.

“Jjong, how’ve you been?” Luhan asks. Jonghyun’s always easy to be around. “Ready for practice?”

“I’ve been great, Cap, and of course I’m ready. I’ve been practicing my backhand, you know? I think I’ve mostly mastered it now,” Jonghyun says, walking in with Luhan. Their stalls are right next to each other.

Luhan can hear Baekhyun already on his way to annoy Kyungsoo with his loud and drawn out whines and he grins. He’s home.

“Great,” Luhan begins, removing his shirt to put on his base layer, “can’t wait to see you on the ice then.”

“Has he been talking about his backhand?” Jinki asks, tilting his head so that he can see Luhan over Jonghyun’s shoulder.

Jinki’s smile is still as bright, the same half-moon one. Luhan always likes to text him with the ‘(＾▽＾)’ emoticon, saying, _look hyung, it’s you_.

“Yeah, has he been going on about it non-stop?” Luhan quirks an eyebrow up at his alternate captain’s comment.

Jinki nods, and barely holds back his laughter when Jonghyun begins to argue his point.

Luhan’s mostly done with putting on his gear - he just has his practice jersey left - when Coach Shim walks into the locker room.

“Luhan,” he says once he’s in front of the team captain. “How was the camp?”

Coach Shim had been the one to recommend the hockey camp to Luhan and Luhan had ended up taking Junmyeon and Yixing along with him.

“It was great, really. I loved the pond hockey practices the most,” Luhan replies, his jersey hanging loosely over his arm.

Coach Shim laughs at that. “That’s nice to hear then. Find any new tricks that you’re gonna use in October?”

“Yeah, got some new ones up my sleeve,” Luhan says, smiling back at Coach Shim.

He nods, gives Luhan a small squeeze on the shoulder and then begins to head back. “Good. Practice begins in ten, okay?”

Luhan nods in confirmation and then puts on his jersey as Coach Shim walks away and out of the locker room. He informs the rest of his teammates about when practice begins and then goes to get his sticks.

Being a forward, Luhan likes to have his stick flex quite high. Although he’s strong enough to bend the stick to his willing, he likes the extra help with angling and accuracy the flex gives.

Yifan joins Luhan halfway through him taping his stick. He taps Luhan on the butt with his stick before bending down to pick up a roll of tape from the table and make the knob on his stick too. Both Luhan’s and Yifan’s knobs on the sticks are relatively small, but big enough that picking up the stick, if it falls down on the ice, is still easy enough.

“Good vacation, Hansy?” Yifan asks, leaning into Luhan slightly, and Luhan can see the emboldened ‘A’ on Yifan’s practice jersey too. He holds in a snort but doesn’t resist the smile itching at the corner of his lips. Yifan really just does what he likes.

“Yeah, camp was really fun,” Luhan replies and adds on a smile at the end, turning to look at Yifan.

“Fun as in hockey fun or ~fun~?” Yifan tries to waggle his eyebrows but fails, so he settles with his gummy, smug smile.

“First of all, alternate Captain, we have to get to practice,” Luhan replies, deadpan and completely ignoring the flush that’s rising on the back of his neck. Thankfully his jersey and his hair cover it up.

“And second?” Yifan takes longer strides to catch up with Luhan as the captain walks down the hallway to the rink.

“Secondly, we have to get to practice,” Luhan says, barely resisting the urge to turn back and give Yifan a stink eye.

Nevermind. He’s not going to resist. Luhan turns back and scowls at his alternate captain. And the only response he gets his loud, bright laughter.

“I guess that means there was also ~fun~ fun involved, hmm?” Yifan lilts his voice up, as if he’s asking a question, but he isn’t really. They both know the answer to it anyway.

“Shut up,” Luhan responds and steps on the ice. “Practice.”

“Yes, of course, Captain,” Yifan says, giving a dorky and unnecessary salute to Luhan, and then sets off, skating around the rink. He goes a bit extra fast to catch up with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, who are halfway across the rink.

After the preliminary skating, they line up to do a modified two-man drop pass drill where they also shoot with the goalies in the net. Their two goalies this year are second years, which is good because they have had experience of a season already.

“Taozi go to the far side net, Hunner will take the other end,” Coach Shim calls out and the two goalies follow the orders with Zitao going to the left end of the rink and Sehun to the right. “The rest of you, line up according to the teams I sorted you out in earlier.”

Luhan nods and then pushes off, going to the left end of the rink as well with Kyungsoo, Taemin and Minho following him.

Drop passes have always been a favorite of Luhan’s, so enjoys this drill more than the others. There’s some kind of fun in faking passes and surprising the goalies with the shots and then scoring. Luhan manages to snag two goals against Sehun, while Taemin manages to score on all three tries. The way Taemin grins at him afterwards spells trouble, though, and Luhan’s not sure if he’s ready for that just one week into practices.

 

x

 

Getting back into a more familiar routine is nice. Luhan likes the way his life settles back into the pace of classes, hockey practices, midnight snacking and odd sleeping hours with an occasional party thrown in. It’s comforting even if it does end up becoming stressful just after the second day back at college.

“Hyunnie, what did you get for question six? I’m not sure about what I did but I got… an answer, or something,” Luhan asks, still poring over the question. His left hand’s fingers are punching in numbers on the graphing calculator next to him and his right hand is seemingly on its own accord.

Luhan gets lost in the problem for another two minutes, but doesn’t get any further or make it any simpler, so he slumps back in his chair.

“Hyunnie?” Luhan turns when he realizes that he never got an answer.

And there Baekhyun is, head on his open textbook, mouth open and slight drool drying over the pages filled with business charts analyses. Luhan bites on his bottom lip to stifle his laughter and quickly pulls out his phone. He takes a quick snap of it and sends it to their group chat.

“Hey, Hyunnie,” Luhan pokes the sleeping forward’s shoulder, “Baekhyun-ah, wake up.”

There’s a long and low drawn out but muffled groan and then Baekhyun turns his face, smushing it into his book and crinkling up the pages. The awkward press of pages against his cheeks wakes him up.

“Huh?” He blearily blinks his eyes, mouth still half open and a small line of white drool dried up on the side of his mouth.

“Morning Baekhyun-ah,” Luhan says in a sing-song voice. “It’s eight o’clock in the morning, we have to go to our class.”

“Class? What?” Baekhyun looks dangerously close to slumping face down onto his book again so Luhan gets up and holds him back by the shoulders.

“University. Classes. Studies. Practice,” he lists off, shaking Baekhyun’s shoulders slightly.

Baekhyun makes tired little whining noises as Luhan shakes him and rubs at his eyes. “How is it morning already? I swear it was like only six-thirty in the evening when I decided to take that ten minute power nap.”

Luhan’s shoulders shake in silent laughter as he moves away from Baekhyun, but then goes to sit down, all composed, before Baekhyun can realize that something’s off.

“I guess you didn’t realize?” Luhan shrugs and starts sneakily closing his books while Baekhyun still tries to keep his eyes open for long enough.

“Fuck,” Baekhyun mumbles. He slowly starts to collect his items, uncaring of how messily the papers crush each other. “I can’t even remember what class I have today. What day is it today?”

And Baekhyun looks so completely like a little disgruntled and ruffled puppy that Luhan can’t help it anymore. He bursts out laughing, remembering to clamp his hand over his mouth seconds after so that he doesn’t make too much noise.

Confused at Luhan’s sudden outburst and still half asleep, Baekhyun turns to face his captain and squints. “The fuck are you laughing for? Are you ‘kay?”

Luhan laughs even harder at that, burying his face in his bag that’s lying on the table. Baekhyun, in the time that Luhan takes to get the laughter out of his system, looks around the library until his gaze catches on the clock and he draws two and two together.

“Wait, the fuck. They would’ve kicked me out of if I _had_ fallen asleep overnight here - and it’s 8 PM not AM you motherfucker, it’s so dark outside, the fuck,” he grumbles, eyebrows scrunching and his mouth turning down in a frown that looks more like a puppy pout.

Luhan wheezes a bit and tries to gasp out, “you’re such a complete _puppy_ Hyunnie, oh god.”

“You asshole!” Baekhyun exclaims, finally awake enough, and punches Luhan in the shoulder.

“Ow! You fucker I’m your captain!” Luhan complains at the hit, rubbing at his shoulder with his other hand.

“You’re an asshole, Hansy, what the fuck. I was so genuinely confused and worried, you fucker,” Baekhyun rambles on.

And then there’s complete silence when Baekhyun’s rant peters off. Luhan sneaks a glance at Baekhyun who seems to be pouting, more tired than angry really, more dramatic than genuinely mad at Luhan. So Luhan takes his shot.

“So, can you help me with problem number six?”

“Fuck off.”

“I’ll buy dinner.”

“Sure.”

Luhan grins. “You like me the best don’t you, your favorite captain~”

“You’re my only captain Hansy.”

“ _Aww_ , your _only_ captain. You’re too sweet Hyunnie.”

“I’m helping you.”

“Right, I’ll stop it.”

Baekhyun opens his book and hides his victorious smile behind the sides of the book as he flips open to the page of the problem.

 

x

 

“Junmyeon-ah, there’s a party this Saturday, do you wanna go?” Yixing asks as he plops down on Junmyeon’s bed in the hasukjib.

“Xingle, we’ve just finished the second week back,” says Junmyeon, turning around on his swivel chair.

“Junmian, I think you mean, we’ve _already_ finished second week back, how come we haven’t gone to a party yet?” Yixing lies down on his stomach and pulls a pillow up, placing it under his chin.

Junmyeon narrows his eyes but doesn’t respond. He turns around on his chair instead and goes back to writing his paper on evaluating Japan’s economic policies with regards to their economic growth.

“Luhan’s going to be there you know,” Yixing says it like it’s an offhand remark.

Junmyeon’s typing pauses, his fingers hovering over the keyboard.

“Aha, gotchu,” Yixing whispers it softly but Junmyeon hears it anyway and his ears and cheeks flare red. Yixing notices them and smiles. “How cute, Junmian~”

“Shut up,” Junmyeon mumbles, covering his burning cheeks with his hands.

“So, is that a yes to the party?”

“Tell Minseok to come along as well then,” Junmyeon says in reply and tries to refocus on his paper.

“You know the whole hockey team is going, right? Or well most of us are,” Yixing says, clarifying. He rolls around on the bed and then settles with lying on his back, tilting his head back to look at Junmyeon, who’s again turned around on his swivel chair.

“Is this a hockey frat party at Yonsei?” Junmyeon lifts an eyebrow up in question, already wary of the answer that he’s bound to get.

“Well…” Yixing hums, wrapping his arms around the pillow that he’s kept on the stomach.

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Yup,” says Yixing, giving in. “Are you not going to come then?”

Junmyeon purses his lips, thinking the decision over a bit. In his head, there’s really only a small voice yelling _‘Luhan’s going to be there!’_ from a corner. It’s tiny and high and shrill, and it sounds oddly like Moaning Myrtle, Junmyeon thinks.

“I’ll,” Junmyeon licks his lips, stalling a bit, “I’ll come, I guess.”

Yixing smiles and then turns, so that he’s lying down the right way on the bed with his feet nearer to Junmyeon’s desk. “Good. Wake me up in fifteen? I wanna take a nap before practice.”

Junmyeon nods, and then hesitates only for a second before putting his laptop to sleep and then walking over to the bed.

“Scoot over, I’m gonna nap too,” he says before plopping onto the bed. It’s a bit cramped with two people squeezing together onto a bed meant only for one person, but they make it work. And Yixing always takes his pre-game naps on Junmyeon’s bed, so Junmyeon’s used to it by now.

The room’s temperature is usually set a bit cooler on the thermostat because Junmyeon likes burrowing under the blankets, the warmth wrapping around him. Today, the temperature is just right—not too hot, not too cold—so that they don’t really need blankets, but Junmyeon appreciates the warmth that comes from Yixing’s arm draped over his waist and his chest pressed to Junmyeon’s back.

He makes sure to set the alarm for fifteen minutes later and one for twenty minutes later too, just in case. The alarm sound is a rooster crowing, which is loud and obnoxious, but also exactly what Junmyeon needs to make sure that they both wake up. Once he’s set the alarm, he keeps the phone on the bedside table and leans back into Yixing’s embrace, getting comfortable with the extra pillow that he keeps on his bed for occasions just like this.

 

x

 

“Do you come here often?” A voice whispers into Junmyeon’s ear. The man’s breath already smells like a mix of soju and beer. “I think I’ve seen you before,” he continues and Junmyeon resists the urge to roll his eyes as he turns around to look at the man and-

Oh.

Luhan.

Junmyeon’s eyebrows furrow, his lower lip jutting out in a small pout. “How are you drunk already?”

Luhan laughs and drapes his arm over Junmyeon’s shoulder.

“I’m not drunk, Junmian~” He replies in his sing-song voice, dragging Junmyeon along to the kitchen counter of the frat house where there’s lines of alcohol bottles. “I’m just having _fun_ ,” Luhan says and he gives Junmyeon an opened beer bottle. “Drink up.”

Junmyeon scowls at the Yonsei captain but takes a long swig of the beer anyway. With his eyes half-lidded as he drinks straight out of the bottle, he can see Luhan staring at him. He doesn’t even really need to see though, he can feel Luhan’s gaze on his throat, the way Junmyeon’s head is tipped back so his neck is bared, the way his adam’s apple bobs with each gulp he takes.

“Ah, Captain Su _hot_ ,” a loud voice breaks through the moment, a new arm on Junmyeon’s shoulder replacing Luhan’s. The other captain instead curls his hand around Junmyeon’s wrist.

“Baekhyun,” Junmyeon turns his face to greet the other team’s forward, “nice to see you again. You buffed up over summer?”

“Yup!” Baekhyun smiles, his cheeks are a bit flushed and he seems to be positively preening under the praise. “See, feel~”

Junmyeon laughs at Baekhyun’s excitement, the arm thrusted out in front of Junmyeon to touch and feel the muscles. He hums appreciatively when he feels the muscles under his arm. Baekhyun has become more muscled over the summer.

Baekhyun’s smile then turns devious. “Be on the lookout Kim Candy, I’ll be ready to hip check you like Ovechkin did with Subban.”

Junmyeon guffaws at that. “Keep dreaming, kid,” he teases, ruffling Baekhyun’s hair before taking another swig of his beer.

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” says Junmyeon, turning to Luhan once Baekhyun wanders off after picking up two bottles of beer from the counter and waving to them in lieu of a spoken ‘see you later.’

“Wanna get out?” Luhan asks, briefly breaking the eye contact to toss the empty bottle into the bin behind him.

“Already?” Junmyeon cocks an eyebrow up, surprised at the quickness of the question rather than the content.

Luhan shrugs. “I’m buzzed enough and not in the mood for beer pong.”

“Really?” Junmyeon takes the last swig from his beer. He takes two steps forward, cutting down the space between him and Luhan to six inches. He reaches over and tosses the empty beer bottle into the bin, grinning when he pulls back to look at Luhan’s face. “It’s a bit early though, people would get suspicious.”

Luhan frowns, but then nods, agreeing. “Where’s Xingle? And Socks? I haven’t seen Socks all summer.”

“I swear sometimes I think you like Socks more than me,” Junmyeon says as they wade through the crowd—a mix of hockey players, other sportsmen and women alike, and a lot of really drunk people who probably just stumbled in.

“Of course I do,” Luhan replies, but the smile on his face is teasing and his fingers curling down on Junmyeon’s shoulder says something else.

“Socks!” Junmyeon calls out when he sees his alternate captain in the corner near the foosball table.

Minseok turns around, hearing his name, and grins when he sees who Junmyeon is bringing along in tow.

“Hansy! How’ve you been?” Minseok walks over to the two captains. There’s a red cup in his hand but he pats Luhan’s ass with his free on. “Enjoyed your summer?” He asks, a knowing smirk on his face as his gaze flits between Luhan and Junmyeon.

“I’ve been great. And yes, very much so,” Luhan replies easily, walking around so that he can attach himself to Minseok’s side. “How about you?”

“Me too. Went to Jeju-do and had a nice time off, can’t say the same for you two, can I? Time off, I mean,” Minseok says, taking a sip from his cup.

“Nah, but it was still fun, and I enjoy hockey more than anything else, so,” says Luhan, shrugging to finish off his sentence.

Minseok nods and then gestures towards the foosball table. “Wanna play a game? This one’s just ending.”

“Actually, I’m feeling a bit tired, I think I’ll take an early night out and hit the sack,” Luhan responds. He’s still leaning against Minseok and Junmyeon feels a fond smile itching at the corners of his lips.

“Hmm, actually tired or just tired of the party?” Minseok asks, an eyebrow quirked up and the red cup against his lips making his lips look even pinker.

Luhan bites down on his lip and stifles his laughter, pressing his cheek down on Minseok’s shoulder. “You know what I mean.”

“Of course I do. Go have fun,” Minseok says, giving a light tap on Luhan’s ass as a goodbye and then a smile and a wink to Junmyeon.

Luhan grins and gives a responding butt pat before moving away and back to Junmyeon’s side.

The two captains leave discreetly, their exits slightly timed apart, and meet up again on the walkway to Luhan’s hasukjib.

“It’s empty?” Junmyeon asks, burrowing his hands into his jacket’s pockets and huddling closer to Luhan.

“Yeah, I asked Yifan,” Luhan replies and leans back against Junmyeon. “Or well, he offered.”

Junmyeon hums. “Are we too obvious?”

“Only to the people who know,” Luhan says, and after that the conversation dies out. They walk in a comfortable silence. Luhan’s hasukjib is only five minutes away from the campus, so they reach it pretty quickly.

The cool breeze is sobering and by the time they’re inside, Junmyeon’s back pressed to the door as Luhan mouths down his neck, they’re both drunk with lust instead.

“Ah, fuck,” Junmyeon groans. “ _Hyung_.”

Luhan responds with a twin groan and jerks his hips, rubbing his clothed erection against Junmyeon’s.

“Hyung, bed, _please_ ,” Junmyeon whispers, wrapping his arms around Luhan’s neck and kissing his jawline. “Quick.”

“Impatient, huh?” Luhan smirks, but pulls the other captain into his room.

“As if you’re one to talk,” Junmyeon chirps back. He unzips his jacket and lets it drop to the floor, the rest of his and Luhan’s clothes following.

Luhan pushes him back onto the bed and climbs over him, straddling the younger. The room’s a bit cool and when Luhan wraps his mouth around Junmyeon’s nipple, Junmyeon moans at the heat that surrounds his skin.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he shivers as Luhan’s hand rubs against his other nipple, “Luhan _ge_.”

Luhan moans and rolls his hips down. “Can I fuck you?” He asks, pulling back and looking down at Junmyeon. His lips are obscenely wet and swollen and so so pink. Junmyeon wants to kiss him, wants to lick over the scar on the bottom lip, wants to feel Luhan moan into the kiss.

“Please,” Junmyeon replies, and then with a hand cupping Luhan’s cheek, he pulls him down into a kiss, doing exactly what he wanted.

 

x

 

Game day comes next Sunday. It’s the first game of the season and it’s against the Incheon team.

“They’re known for being fast and especially good with their puck handling in offensive plays, so we have to stay alert and strong on our defense,” Junmyeon says, giving his pep talk to the team an hour before the game. “I have faith you in guys. And you guys,” he turns to look at the new defensemen, “have practiced with Socks and Xingle, so make sure that you remain on your toes. Mistakes happen but don’t let them happen too often and don’t get sloppy.”

There are murmurs of ‘yes captain’ and heads nodding in response and then Junmyeon moves along to start his pre-game routine.

He rarely deviates from it during most of the games, but for the first game of each season, he always adds a new thing to the routine to make the year slightly different. This year, he does his left side first—stretching out his left leg first, tying the left skate laces first, putting on the left shoulder pad first, wearing the left hand’s glove first.

Junmyeon drinks from his gatorade bottle, refills it, and then works on his sticks. He always makes sure to have an extra just in case. Both have to have the same amount of tape making up the small knob at the top. He checks the flex of the sticks next, and when satisfied, he goes back into the locker room.

Most of the players are on their way out so Junmyeon just calls out to the rest, telling them to come out soon for warm ups, and then he leaves too, going down the hallway to the rink.

It’s Minho in goal today, Junmyeon’s line with Wooyoung and Kibum first and Yixing and Minseok as the first pair for defence.

They begin with their usual pre-game warm ups, Junmyeon pushing all the pucks from the bench onto the ice. The opposing team is also on the ice, skating and shooting.

While Minho finishes his stretches, Junmyeon practices his handling. He places five pucks on the ice and zig-zags his way through with an extra puck, making sure his control’s good. Once Minho’s done, taking a final drink from his bottle and then keeping it on top of the next, he signals Junmyeon to begin the drills.

His mask stands out, the orange flames seeming brighter with the black and red home jersey. He nods his head once and then the forwards start, skating up to take their shots. They keep their shooting simple, it’s more for Minho to get warmed up rather than the others to practice their dekes.

The game begins with Junmyeon taking the face-off at center ice. He looks up at the referee once and then settles his attention on the puck and then the ice. The whistle sounds off and the puck drops. Junmyeon wins the draw and sends a pass to Kibum coming up on his right.

Incheon’s team is good, but Aman is better. For the first five minutes of play, Aman keeps it tight, not letting the opposing team have many chances. And with shifts every forty to forty-five seconds, each of the lines gets an opportunity to be on the ice.

“On your left! On your left,” Yixing yells, skating backwards, as the Incheon left winger passes the center line, nearing the blue line. It’s a two-on-one with Minseok on the right, skating up to the player, trying to win the puck, and Yixing in the back, open and ready to block any other incoming forwards.

“Socks!” Jongin yells out. He’s open. Minseok glances up and to the side, there’s an Incheon forward coming up behind Jongin, but Minseok makes a split second decision and makes a cross ice pass, sending the rubber disc across the ice and right up to where Jongin picks it with his stick and shuffles to the attacking zone.

The Incheon forwards are hot on his heels and as he passes by the benches, Junmyeon, standing up, yells out, “Wheel! On your left Nini!”

Jongin curls and drop passes to Jongdae, seeing the faster forward rush past him towards the net with the puck and following him.

Jongdae dangles his way through the two defensemen coming up on him and takes a wrist shot at the goal. The goal horn sounds and Jongdae hollers. He kisses his gloved fist and then points a finger up to the crowd where he knows his mother his sitting.

The rest of his line and Minseok and Yixing rush into the hug, yelling with him.

“Hey! Hey! Like that, huh? Want more of me?” Jongdae snipes after as he skates past the opposing team’s bench, smirking at their disgruntled faces.

He high fives his own teammates and then switches over. It’s Junmyeon’s line out again on the ice now.

The face-off is in the Tigers’ attacking zone and Kibum takes it this time. The Incheon team wins it this time but Wooyoung corners in on the left winger, battling for the puck and winning it. He passes it along the boards to Junmyeon, who takes it up and skates along the boards until he sees an opening with Wooyoung and sends it his way.

It’s a saucer pass as the puck goes airborne, although only slightly over the ice. Wooyoung taps it with his stick and passes it over to Kibum, who’s free now. For all their excellence in the offense, Incheon’s defense isn’t really quite good. It doesn’t match up to the standards that their forwards set as they are barely able to intercept any passes well enough.

Junmyeon screens the goalie, pushing at one of the defencemen, to give an opportunity to Wooyoung to make the shot. And Wooyoung does, but the horn sounds and the period ends just as the slapshot hits the post, a loud ping covered up by a louder horn.

Junmyeon pats Jongdae’s helmet as they walk down to the locker rooms, another whispered 'good job.' The break in between the periods are fifteen minutes long so the jerseys come off, pads readjusted, and tapes on sticks fixed.

“Good job guys,” Coach Kim begins once all the players are in the locker room. “I want to see you guys play like this till the end. Go hard and don’t let Incheon get many opportunities. Their defense is weak so we have to try and get in as many shots as we can, but also keep our defense strong. We handled the almost breakaway well, let’s try and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The players nod in response, Jongdae shouting out an “aye Coach!” that makes Coach Kim laugh a bit. There’s a mischievous glimmer in Jongdae’s eyes.

“Also congrats to Daesy for the goal, it was a beauty,” Coach Kim says, patting Jongdae’s shoulder. “We’ll begin with our second line—so that’s 21-88-61, okay?” He confirms and there’s a sharp smirk on Jongdae’s face, accentuated by his jawline and cheekbones shining with sweat under the lights. Coach Kim nods once and then moves out to discuss new strategies with the assistant.

The second period passes without any more goals. However, Kibum and Jackson both pick up a penalty each. Kibum does for hooking and Jackson for roughing that gets the Incheon defenseman a penalty too, resulting in a 4-on-4 play. Coach Kim prides himself for having a good penalty killing team though, and they work well during both two minute penalties to block all shots from the offense and not leave Minho hanging out on his own.

Minho makes the save of the game during the third period. There’s too much traffic around the net that leaves Minho scrambling, barely able to follow the small rubber disc as players continue to block his view. He goes for the glove and catches the puck before the Incheon center can cut down Aman’s one goal lead with a top shelf goal.

The game ends with a 1-0 win for Aman and a shutout to start the season with for Minho. The horn blares and the players crowd around Minho, cheering and jumping up into the pile to hug Minho.

“Attaboy!” Yixing yells as he bumps his helmet with Minho’s mask.

Minho’s beaming, his smile so so bright even under the cage, and Junmyeon grins back at him, tapping him on the shin with his stick.

“Good job Minstar,” Kibum says, squeezing into the hug.

The loudest is Jongdae though, joined by Jackson as they holler with the crowds and hug their teammates.

They end with shaking hands with the Incheon team before making their way back into the locker room.

Coach Kim congratulates them all, telling them to go out for a good team dinner and drinks - everyone’s past the legal age, so it’s okay, Jongdae laughs as he tells so to Coach Kim when Coach Kim stumbles for a minute, thinking that he just encouraged underage drinking.

Junmyeon vibrates with a message when he’s halfway through putting on his shirt, only one arm in, after showering. He glances towards the phone but first finishes pulling the shirt over his head and his arm through the other hole before he picks it up to look at the message.

**luhan ✩ 9:02 PM**

_good job, you did great /o/_

Junmyeon grins, types out a quick ‘thanks’ as a reply and sends its. He feels someone’s chin dig into his shoulder so he quickly quits out of the app.

“Gotchu,” Yixing whispers into his ear and Junmyeon relaxes, breathing out a sigh in relief.

“Good lord Xingle,” Junmyeon says, pocketing his phone. “You scared me.”

Yixing lifts his head and laughs, sitting down in his stall, right next to Junmyeon’s, and they put on their shoes.

“Do you need a ride today, for the dinner?” Junmyeon turns to ask Minseok, once he’s done tying his shoelaces. Yixing’s already coming with him, it’s a part of their routine.

“Mhm, it’d be nice.” Minseok smiles and Junmyeon nods, tilting his head to ask them to start heading out.

“Guys, make sure to come to the dinner tonight, it’s at our usual samgyupsal place, the one near Caffé Bene,” Junmyeon tells the other players, who’re still getting ready. “If you need a ride, I can give you one,” he offers, but no one takes him up - all having made up the plans on how to get their by themselves after the game. “Nice, see you soon then~”

By the time Junmyeon gets out, Minseok and Yixing are already in the car as Junmyeon had given his key to Minseok. He gets into the driver seat and notices that the music’s already been taken care of as Minseok’s connected his phone to the speakers.

TVXQ’s ‘Rising Sun’ plays in the background as Junmyeon drives to the restaurant, Minseok and Yixing talking about upcoming assignments with Junmyeon occasionally butting in to ask a question when Minseok brings up economics.

 

x

 

Yonsei’s record after the first two games is 2-0-0 with the second win being an overtime one, although a win nonetheless. Their third game tonight is against Goryeo. Luhan arrives at the rink an hour and a half before the game starts. It’s home ice advantage for Yonsei, but it doesn’t make that much of a difference when both teams are situated in Seoul.

“This is going to be our first taste of what the Korea-Yonsei games’ match may turn out to be like,” Coach Shim had told them during last practice, “so I want you all to go hard, play hard and watch their plays.”

Luhan’s in the gym, doing his stretches, when another, familiar figure walks in.

“Ready for tonight?” The new person asks and Luhan looks up.

“Of course,” Luhan replies, smiling at the other guy. “What about you, Xingle?”

“You know I’m always ready Xiao Lu,” Yixing replies, ruffling Luhan’s hair before walking over to pick up a mat for his stretches. Luhan scrunches his nose at the nickname and the hair ruffling but goes back to exercising instead of bickering with Yixing.

Luhan leaves after another twenty minutes, waving to Yixing before he leaves. He joins his other teammates in the quick football game that’s more of just passing the ball around in a circle rather than any form of an actual game.

Getting ready for the game seems to pass in a blur, and before he knows it, Luhan’s out on the ice, skating around the net and shooting pucks as pre-game warm up.

Zitao’s in the goal tonight, going against Minho for Goryeo, and Luhan’s on the first line with Jinki and Taemin.

It’s Luhan for the face-off, and he’s opposite Junmyeon. He looks up, his eyes going over the emboldened ‘C’ on Junmyeon’s jersey before meeting with Junmyeon’s eyes. He smirks and Junmyeon responds with a matching grin of his own.

The referee blows the whistle, drops the puck and the game begins.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. i tried to make this as accurate as possible for hockey but south korea doesn't have college hockey (aside from the goryeo dae/korea university and yonsei teams that play during the korea-yonsei (yonsei-korea) rivalry games) so i had to make up a few of the teams
> 
> 2\. as i focused more on the hockey/college life/future goals aspect, i didn't dwell too much on whether every detail was accurate, so i hope those don't detract from the fic!
> 
> 3\. i also hope that the hockey terminology/jargon is easy enough to understand - some of the types of passes/shots/checks etc. may be hard but i think adding them made it more realistic. and sorry if there's too much hockey ;; i got a bit carried away haha. i would make a list like a glossary but i think you can those ones that are much better online (here are two that are good: [one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_ice_hockey_terms) and [two](http://www.momsteam.com/sports/ice-hockey-glossary-of-terms))
> 
> 5\. this may have 5 or 4 chapters (maybe even 3?) but i haven't decided yet so i'm leaving it as five
> 
> 6\. also i haven't been as into hockey since like 2013/14 (just been a casual fan, altho i'm getting back into it bc #wch2016) now so if i make any errors, i apologize ;; i tried my best


End file.
